WARREN Residents invited to give views on schools

Officials are waiting to see whether the district will get state aid for construction. WARREN -- Several meetings are planned next month to allow residents to provide input on a master plan for school district buildings. The district has been in line for the last few years to receive funding from the state for new construction. Officials expect to learn in July if the district will get funding this year from the Ohio School Facilities Commission. The state will provide 80 percent of the funding; the remainder will have to come from local sources, most likely a bond issue. Proposals for buildings OSFC has recommended a plan to build eight elementary schools, two middle schools and a high school and to renovate Western Reserve Middle School. The district, which includes Warren G. Harding High School, three middle schools and 12 elementaries, proposed an alternative plan earlier this year that OSFC also approved. The district's plan proposes a new high school and three new kindergarten-through-eighth-grade buildings in three quadrants of the city. In the fourth quadrant, Reserve would be renovated and used for kindergarten through eighth grade. But Superintendent Betty English has said the actual master plan will come from community input. At a meeting last week with teachers and staff at Harding, participants talked about the need to improve graduation rates and incorporate technology into the curriculum. Meetings scheduled Other meetings, all to run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., are scheduled for: UMarch 11 at Lincoln Elementary, Atlantic Avenue N.E., for residents in the Garfield/Lincoln Elementary district. UMarch 12 at Emerson, Drexel Avenue N.W., for residents in the Emerson/McGuffey district. UMarch 13 at Horace Mann, Austin Avenue S.W., for residents of the Jefferson/Horace Mann district. UMarch 24 at Western Reserve Middle School auditorium, Loveless Avenue S.W., for residents in Reserve's district. UMarch 25 at Harry B. Turner Middle School Auditorium, Mahoning Avenue N.W., for residents of the Turner district. UMarch 26 at East Middle School Auditorium, South Street S.E., for residents of the East district. UMarch 27 at Harding Auditorium for all residents. The school board has chosen Fanning/Howey Associates Inc. of Columbus to work with the district at the meetings and with the plan. The information gathered in the group sessions will be given to a key communicator group, which will include parents, faculty members and others from the community who will work on the master plan. Organizers hope that group numbers about 100 to 150 members. They aim for completion of the process by late May or early June.